Sequels can be a tricky thing to handle, especially when they promise a darker, edgier tone. Despite its much gloomier tone, however, Things from the Flood manages to avoid difficult-second-album syndrome with a game that neatly blends weird sci-fi mysteries and teenage drama, though sometimes it’s hard to tell which aspect is the most dangerous and unsettling.
A follow-up to the wildly successful Tales from the Loop, the new game is a stand-alone system that falls somewhere between a new edition and an expansion. Where the original was a brightly-colored, optimistic adventure starring wide-eyed 80s kids, Things from the Flood moves the action on by a decade and ages the cast up by a few years. Now the party is made up of surly teens with complex personal lives, and the world itself has lost much of its optimistic spark.
Just like in real life, the difference just a few years can make is terrifying. The small-town settings – one in Sweden and one in the US – have been ravaged by the titular flood, burying the mysterious labs that sparked off so many adventures in brackish water. All the fancy tech that explained away Tales from the Loop’s space-age gizmos is falling prey to a hideously organic disease and a strange illness is rendering the local adults apathetic and dull.
Of course, when the grown-ups are idle and ignorant, it naturally falls to the teens to pick up the pieces and investigate all the weird goings-on about town. This is where most groups will spend the vast majority of their time, hunting for clues and exploring the story.
The rules around escaping monsters, lying to cops and other adventurous shenanigans are simple enough to flow with minimal fuss, with players assembling pools of d6 based on their skill and trying to hit sixes for a success. Extra successes allow you to buy bonus effects, while failures in particularly tricky spots can lead you with negative conditions.
So far this is all very Tales from the Loop, but there are also a handful of mechanical changes that reflect the new, darker tone. Perhaps the biggest of these is that if you build up enough conditions your character can be killed off for good – something carefully avoided in the original. The luck mechanic is gone entirely too, and where kids got bonus dice if they brought their Pride into a check the teens get theirs if they’re fighting back against their Shame.
This is completely reflected in the settings and adventures too, with sex, drugs and violence splashed throughout the book. Though it’s hard to tell if Things from the Flood captures the reality of being a teenager it certainly does a great job of evoking a 30-year-old’s memories of being awkward kid fumbling around in adult’s body.
It’s all well-written and evocative of both the age and the era, but at times the darker, grittier tone can come on a little strong, making sessions feel like a Very Special Episode of a 90s sitcom rather than a relaxing night of gaming. Hitting the right balance will come down to the group, and – ironically – it seems that playing a game about hormone-charged, emotionally floundering teens requires players and GMs alike to act with a solid serving of maturity.
Ultimately, Tales from the Loop was an incredibly solid mystery game and Things from the Flood is built on the same foundations. The original is probably slightly easier to handle, but the follow-up offers a little more edge and bite that can do wonderful things in a group willing to commit to the tone.
This article was contributed by Richard Jansen-Parkes (Winghorn) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
A follow-up to the wildly successful Tales from the Loop, the new game is a stand-alone system that falls somewhere between a new edition and an expansion. Where the original was a brightly-colored, optimistic adventure starring wide-eyed 80s kids, Things from the Flood moves the action on by a decade and ages the cast up by a few years. Now the party is made up of surly teens with complex personal lives, and the world itself has lost much of its optimistic spark.
Just like in real life, the difference just a few years can make is terrifying. The small-town settings – one in Sweden and one in the US – have been ravaged by the titular flood, burying the mysterious labs that sparked off so many adventures in brackish water. All the fancy tech that explained away Tales from the Loop’s space-age gizmos is falling prey to a hideously organic disease and a strange illness is rendering the local adults apathetic and dull.
Of course, when the grown-ups are idle and ignorant, it naturally falls to the teens to pick up the pieces and investigate all the weird goings-on about town. This is where most groups will spend the vast majority of their time, hunting for clues and exploring the story.
The rules around escaping monsters, lying to cops and other adventurous shenanigans are simple enough to flow with minimal fuss, with players assembling pools of d6 based on their skill and trying to hit sixes for a success. Extra successes allow you to buy bonus effects, while failures in particularly tricky spots can lead you with negative conditions.
So far this is all very Tales from the Loop, but there are also a handful of mechanical changes that reflect the new, darker tone. Perhaps the biggest of these is that if you build up enough conditions your character can be killed off for good – something carefully avoided in the original. The luck mechanic is gone entirely too, and where kids got bonus dice if they brought their Pride into a check the teens get theirs if they’re fighting back against their Shame.
This is completely reflected in the settings and adventures too, with sex, drugs and violence splashed throughout the book. Though it’s hard to tell if Things from the Flood captures the reality of being a teenager it certainly does a great job of evoking a 30-year-old’s memories of being awkward kid fumbling around in adult’s body.
It’s all well-written and evocative of both the age and the era, but at times the darker, grittier tone can come on a little strong, making sessions feel like a Very Special Episode of a 90s sitcom rather than a relaxing night of gaming. Hitting the right balance will come down to the group, and – ironically – it seems that playing a game about hormone-charged, emotionally floundering teens requires players and GMs alike to act with a solid serving of maturity.
Ultimately, Tales from the Loop was an incredibly solid mystery game and Things from the Flood is built on the same foundations. The original is probably slightly easier to handle, but the follow-up offers a little more edge and bite that can do wonderful things in a group willing to commit to the tone.
This article was contributed by Richard Jansen-Parkes (Winghorn) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
